Art Hounds: Rooted, Chaun Webster, and another great Minnesota indie folk band
Conscious Spirit, the dance group founded by Rooted's curator Maia Maiden (Photo courtesy of Maia Maiden)
The hounds have unearthed an intergenerational hip hop choreographer's evening, a St. Paul poet who's encouraging African-American artists to take control of their image and a Minneapolis indie folk band with Duluthian roots whose sound is reminiscent of the region it was born in.
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As a black artist, Bianca Pettis, one half of the Minnesota sound collage duo Beatrix Jar, often feels under-represented in the media. Bianca is an enthusiastic supporter of St. Paul poet Chaun Webster's mission to help African-American artists bring a more accurate, nuanced depiction of black culture into the mainstream. Webster will read his poems on Saturday, June 23, at 7pm, at The Bindery Projects, an alternative exhibition space in St. Paul.
Minneapolis songwriter and composer Mankwe Ndosi predicts people who go to Rooted: A Hip Hop Choreographer's Evening, will be rejuvenated by the multi-generational energy that's in the room. The event, at Patrick's Cabaret in Minneapolis on June 22 and 23 at 7:30pm, features seasoned and emerging hip hop choreographers trying to take their style of dance to a new level.
Brandy Dutoit, creator of "365 Music project" blog, calls the Minneapolis indie folk band Portage one of the best new local groups of the year. Brandy hears the band's big sounding acoustic guitars and atmospheric effects and thinks of the upper Midwest. Portage is winding up a month long residency at the Amsterdam Bar and Hall in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 27.
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